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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Cheating Death Blog Tour and Giveaway

Jen Naumann YA author of gems Shymers, The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life, and What I've Done, launches her new book Cheating Death, and I have the sincere pleasure of being a stop on her awesome giveaway and blog tour!

Book description:

Lysandra
Brooks remembers everything about the day she almost drowned alongside
her grandma, especially the set of mysterious eyes she saw at the bottom
of the lake. Ever since then, she's been seeing strange things when she
is near water—things that aren't really there. Because of it, Lysandra
has the tendency to avoid anything that isn't on dry land. On her last
day of high school, however, the biggest party of the year is set to
take place at a fellow senior's lakeside mansion. Despite her fears,
Lysandra decides to prove to her friends and herself that she can handle
it.

But
after a horrific night of drinking and drama that leaves Lysandra
feeling lonely and confused, she nearly drowns for a second time, only
to be saved by the new guy in town. From that moment on, Lysandra's
world is turned upside down with the discovery of mind blowing secrets,
including a revelation that something sinister is after her soul.

Book Trailer I apologize for Blogger quirks. It wouldn't allow me to embed the video, so please click the link for Jen's awesome book trailer!

I have the honor of interviewing Jen!

What is with you and dead things, anyway? How did the dead and undead become your inspiration?

Ha,
no one has ever asked me that in those exact words. I'm not even sure I
can give you an answer. I started reading Stephen King and watching
horror movies at a young age. I was immediately hooked on anything
scary. I was into zombies well before The Walking Dead came out—they're my favorite supernatural creatures.Part
of the reason I'm so drawn to paranormal in general is that you have
really use your imagination since those things don't exist in reality.
To me it's all fun and exciting because it's all pretend. If anything
creepy would happen to me in real life, however, I'd probably pee my
pants.

Have you ever had any near death experiences? If not, have you known anyone who could personally describe them?

The premise of Cheating Death actually
came from an incident when I was maybe 4 or 5 and fell backwards off a
dock with my mom. I still remember vividly thinking that I was going to
die. But we were in maybe five feet of water and she was right next to
me. I just wasn't a very good swimmer yet. Then last year in St. Maarten
I was pulled under by some powerful waves and for the first time as an
adult thought I was seriously going to drown when I couldn't get back on
my feet. There was also a time when I was in elementary that my dad
caught me swearing. These were the days when spanking was okay—although I
could probably count on one hand how many times it was actually done in
our house—and I locked myself in a closet.

How do you research your paranormal novels, if
you do?

I
normally don't do any research. Anyone who has read my zombie book
knows I like to make up my own rules when it comes to paranormal,
although I like to keep my theories reasonable—you won't find sparkling
vampires in my stories.

Your
novels deeply address the issues of growing up as a teenager. Some are
things teenagers think about, but won't tell parents. Are you drawing on
life experiences?

I
would like to think that I was a fairly normal teen. My parents are the
best and I probably could've told them anything. Were there some things
I chose to keep to myself? Of course. But some of my characters have
pretty messed up relationships with their parents and my childhood was
absolutely nothing like that. I still made mistakes and bad decision
like any other teen (like throwing a party in our house my senior year
and my mom realizing ten seconds after returning home that I did so
because the curtains had been moved).

How do you hope Cheating Death will inspire or help Young/New Adults? Cheating Death is
the darkest book I've written to date and is better suited for the "new
adult" crowd because of it. I bring up some real-life issues that high
school/college kids face and hope they maybe stop and think about these
consequences that could very well happen to anyone. I don't mean to
sound like I'm trying to teach a lesson, but I was into drinking my
senior year and hadn't heard of things like this happening, so I thought
I was invincible. But bad things can happen when you're drinking. And
they do.

I
am not personally "into" reading books about zombies, but Cheating
Death sounds a little more up my alley. Was there a specific inspiration
for Cheating Death?

Like
I said earlier, this story came about with the memories of almost
drowning as a child. Otherwise, I can't say that anything specifically
shaped the story. When I write I have no idea where I'm going or what
will happen to my characters. Needless to say, the first draft can often
be a total nightmare.

Would you like to tell us anything I might have missed?

Being
an indie author can be a lot of work. I really appreciate those who
take a chance on me and buy my books. I also appreciate those who take
time to write a review on Goodreads or Amazon. I'm not sure everyone
understands just how important it is to leave feedback for your favorite
writers. And I really appreciate bloggers like you, Shanah, who support
my work and help spread the word. You rock!Thanks so much for being my first author interview and sharing your new release on my blog, Jen!

Author bio:

Jen
grew up during a magical time in which Ghostbusters, Star Wars, E.T.
and The Goonies were the biggest blockbusters. Her love of sci-fi
exploded over time, eventually growing into a career of writing YA
fiction with a paranormal flair. When not sitting at her Mac, she can be
found at concerts and movies, hanging with friends, chilling at her
lake home, taking pictures, working on graphic design projects,
traveling, or at home with her husband in southern Minnesota and trying
to keep up with their four active children.

Katie's Blog

Deadly Ever After

Jen Naumann's Blog

The Meaning of Sisu

Sisuis a Finnish term loosely translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance and acting rationally in the face of adversity. However, the word is widely considered to lack proper translation into any other language. Sisu has been described as being integral to understanding Finnish culture. The literal meaning is equivalent in English to "having guts", and the word derives from sisus, which means something inner or interior. (from - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu - See also Cultural significance on that site)